Recognizing Greatness
By 
We need a moment to recognize Shohei Ohtani, one of the most remarkable human beings to ever play any sport. In an injury year, recovering from a 2nd Tommy John series, Ohtani was reduced to only hitting, which he has responded to by being the first person to hit 50 homers and 50 steals ever. Or in fact 51 and 51, as yesterday he had arguably the greatest game in baseball history, going 6-6 with 10 RBI, 3 home runs, 2 doubles, and 2 steals. Um, what? Granted (I guess), the last home run came against a position player mopping up in this 20-4 blowout of Miami. But whatever. Sometimes, you just have be happy to be alive to see something like this.
Ohtani’s 7.8 WAR is not exactly an all-time great season in terms of that advanced statistic, but as a DH? He’s going to win his 3rd MVP and leads the league in runs, homers, RBIs, SLG, and OPS.
Also remember that the Angels were never able to even sniff the playoffs despite having two of the greatest players in MLB history when Trout and Ohtani were together. Arte Moreno is probably grateful for Jerry Reinsdorf making sure he’s not the worst owner in the league.